Daily COVID Tracker: Deaths surge as NCDC logs 165 cases in 10 states

Nigeria on Sunday recorded 165 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday. 

COVID: Ex-rep to empower 1,000 women in Nasarawa communities 

Ahmed Wadada, a former member of the house of representatives, has announced plans to empower 1,000 women in rural communities in Nasarawa state.

Speaking in an interview with NAN on Sunday, Wadada said the women, drawn from Nasarawa west senatorial district, will be trained in entrepreneurial development.

The former lawmaker said the training will ameliorate the negative impact of COVID-19 on women in rural communities.

“Wadada Education Foundation, in partnership with the Amazons of Arewa Rural Women Intervention Scheme, is setting up a training centre to empower and train 1,000 across the Nasarawa west senatorial district to be economically independent,” he said.

“For the dream I have of fostering gender equality for women to thrive, I decided to allocate 200 slots to each of the five local governments that made up Nasarawa west, namely, Keffi, Karu, Kokona, Nasarawa and Toto local government areas of the state.”

Namibia to suspend use of Sputnik V vaccine

Namibia says it will suspend its rollout of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID vaccine over concerns about its safety for people with HIV.

The development comes about a week after South Africa declined an emergency use application for the vaccine, saying it combines two separate adenovirus-vectored constructs —Adenovirus Type 26 (Ad26) and Adenovirus Type 5 (Ad5) — which are not safe for people with HIV.

Namibia’s health ministry said the decision to suspend the use of the Sputnik V vaccine is “out of (an) abundance of caution that men (who) received Sputnik V may be at higher risk of contracting HIV”.

The ministry added that it has taken South Africa’s decision into account.

South Korea: We’ve reached goal of 70% vaccination

South Korea says it has achieved its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of its population — 52 million people.

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said reaching the mark has significant meaning in reducing severe cases and fatalities and it is an important “precondition for a transition to the phased recovery of our daily lives”.

KDCA added that it is possible to put an end to the pandemic by “reaching herd immunity due to the spread of highly transmissible Delta variant”.

Nigeria records 165 infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 165 new cases of coronavirus in the country.

The agency, in its update for October 24, 2021, said the latest positive samples were recorded in nine states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The states that reported the new cases are Lagos (77), FCT (43), Rivers (22), Oyo (10), Osun (6), Bayelsa (2), Edo (2), Kaduna (1), Kano (1) and Ogun (1).

The NCDC update showed that 4,188 persons were discharged after recovering from the infection on Saturday.

However, 26 persons were confirmed to have died of COVID complications — the highest figure since October 18.

The agency noted that Sunday’s update includes a backlog of infections, recoveries, and deaths reported from Lagos and FCT.

So far, NCDC has recorded 210,460 infections, 202,379 recoveries, and 2,882 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

US to approve COVID vaccine for children by November

Anthony Fauci, US infectious disease expert, says the COVID vaccine for people between the ages of 5 and 9 may be approved by November.

“If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, it’s entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November,” Fauci said.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the Pfizer/BioNTech application seeking authorisation of its COVID vaccine for children.